Light in the Darkness
by frozentreats.chocolatesweets
Summary: After getting ambushed by Fearlings, captured by Pitch Black and tossed into a cage completely made out of light draining lead, Katherine is some greeted by the one person who needs her help. Working together by using childish methods, the two eventually break free and join the battle at the Earth's Core. All characters belong to William Joyce and the Guardians of Childhood


Raising the lantern higher so that she could see better, a shift in the light caught Katherine's eye.

"Hello?" She called into the darkness hoping that it was Bunnymund or North.

Turning back to the wall that was blocking their path to the Nightmare King's lair, she noticed that the light from her lantern was changing. All around her, threads of light were being twisted and bend away from her. But it wasn't the light changing that scared her, it was that all the light was being absorbed into the lead armour of the Fearlings that were now dropping down from the darkened cave and surrounding her.

"North!" Katherine screamed out in the cave, hoping that the Russian Cossack could her before she was being dragged away from her friends.

_Where are they taking me?_ Wondered Katherine as she tried to make out shapes in the darkness.

After shoving Katherine around in the darkened tunnels, they eventually came to a large cavern. It was the Earth's Core, but it wasn't as the girl have imagined. Instead of the lush green fields that she was hoping, all Katherine could see was thousands of Fearlings harvesting lead from the walls of the cavern and making it into armour.

_So that's how they aren't affected by light._ Katherine thought just before a Fearling pushed her forward.

Letting out a small cry, the girl fell forward and was now kneeling in front of the Nightmare King, Pitch Black.

"Good." He stated in a cold voice

"Now we just wait for the thief and wiza-."

But the Nightmare King was cut off by a large cry that came from one of the tunnels. The battle cry shook the entire cavern and caused every Fearling to pause in shock, but Pitch only tensed up from the noise. The last time Pitch heard that battle cry was when he destroyed the Pooka Brotherhood, and the last thing he need right now was to fight a Pooka.

"A Pooka is coming!" Pitch hissed then grabbed Katherine by the throat causing her the cry out in pain.

As the living shadow shouted directions to his Fearling Army, Katherine just dangled at Pitch's side and fought back tears from the pain of his needle like nails were slowly digging into her neck. Trying to ignore the pain, she started to watch the entire group of Fearlings move as the prepared for the arrival of North and Bunnymund. Just then Pitch turned down a hallway that had several metal cages hanging from the ceiling, each with a child from Santoff Claussen. As the two passed several cages the child shrunk in hopes that Pitch wouldn't notice them, expect for a few who were brave for the young ones.

_Tall William! Sascha! Fog!_ Katherine recognized their faces in the dark.

"I'll get you ou-." But before she could finish, Pitch tossed Katherine into his other hand.

Using his free hand, Pitch then opened a large metal door at the end of the hall and threw the girl inside. Landing on her side, Katherine let out another cry of pain and then heard the metal door slam shut and lock behind her, thus leaving Katherine engulfed in darkness. Forcing herself to sit up, Katherine let out a small whimper from the pain that was blooming around her throat and side.

"That's going to leave a mark." Katherine whispered as she gently touched the sore skin on her neck.

Standing up and rushing over to the metal door, Katherine started to pound on the door.

"Let me out!" She shouted hoping that the other children outside would hear her and gain some hope.

"Let me out!" Katherine called again "I need to hel-."

Katherine was cut off when she heard a noise coming from the back wall of the cell. Grasping her knife that was tied to her waist, she easily whipped it out and turned around fast.

"Who's there?" She yelled into the darkness and was greeted by a faint glowing light.

"N-Nightlight?" Katherine gasped in disbelief.

Leaned up against the cell's back wall, was indeed the spectral boy, but thanks to the metal cell that was completely made out of the light absorbing lead, Nightlight was slumped up against the wall and was growing weaker by the minutes. His once bright glowing skin was now no brighter than a firefly in the early evening.

Dropping her knife and running over to the boy, Katherine was now leaning down in front of the spectral boy.

"Nightlight!" She gently grabbed his shoulders and tried to shake him into consciousness.

"Nightlight, stay with me. Don't fall asleep." Katherine kept on shaking the boy hoping to keep him awake.

_You can't fall asleep. What if you never wake up?_ Katherine instantly thought of the worse result.

"Nightlight!" Katherine whimpered when her friend wouldn't move.

"Nightlight please!" She started to feel tears starting to form.

With a new weight on his shoulder, Nightlight forced his exhausted eyes open only to be met by a sight that he thought he would never see again. Pressed against his left shoulder was his Katherine, but she was crying. Slowing moving his beaten arms up, he gently laced them around her waist and hugged her. Almost instantly Katherine's tears stopped when she noticed that Nightlight was hugging her and glowing brighter.

Leaning back to face the spectral boy, she swallowed a few sobs and forced a smile.

"You're okay!" She cheered while Nightlight wiped away her tears.

He nodded.

_I'm fine, better now._ He thought while let his hand cup her cheek and watched her smile again.

"I was afraid that I'd never see you again." Katherine whispered as her cries where finally silenced.

Nightlight nodded again.

"I was scared…that Pitch…that he ki-." Katherine was interrupt by Nightlight's arms wrapping around her and pulling her into a bone crushing hug.

Almost instantly, Katherine wrapped her arms around the spectral boy's neck and hugged him harder while she started to bury her face into Nightlight shoulder and fought back the remaining tears. The two sat there for a few minutes in the pleasure of knowing that both were going to be safe. Trying to pull away, Nightlight gently unwrapped his arms but only to have them tightened when Katherine shook her head knowing that he wanted to release her.

After another long moment, Katherine pulled away, her face light up with a bright blush that could be seem even in the small light that was now emit-.

_Wait a minute_.

"Nightlight! You're glowing!"

With wide eyes, Nightlight released Katherine and was now inspecting his hands. Turning his hands over a few times, what Katherine had said was true. He was glowing bright again and even better, none of this light was being absorbed by the pure leads walls that were killing him only a few minutes ago. Overjoyed with the news, Nightlight cupped Katherine's face with both hands before pulling her into another bone crushing hug.

Standing up quick, Nightlight then flew over the door and pressed a glowing hand to the metal door.

_This has to work now! _Nightlight hoped while he forced the light into the door.

Concentrating light into the metal door seemed like a good plan at first, but soon Nightlight changed his mind when all he was doing was melting a small hole into the door.

"What are you doing?" Katherine asked while walking up behind Nightlight just as he started to give up.

Peering over the boy's shoulder, Katherine understood what was going on.

"What can I do to help?" She asked hoping that she would be of some assistance.

Not knowing was to say, Nightlight just twinkled his fingers hoping that Katherine would understand.

"Brighter?" She questioned remembering the hand gesture from a few past times.

He nodded happily.

_How can I get brighter?_ Nightlight questioned as he continued to pace the room's length.

"Think happy things!" Katherine proclaimed.

_It's it!_ Nightlight then stopped his pacing and stared at the floor while trying to think of things that made him happy.

"Nothing's happening." Katherine complained when the spectral boy didn't become any brighter.

Turning to Katherine with an unimpressed look, Nightlight crossed his arms over his chest.

_Do you have any other ideas?_ Nightlight then continued to stare at the girl with an unimpressed gaze.

"Kittens!" Katherine exclaimed trying to break the unsettling gaze Nightlight was giving her.

With Nightlight interest perking up, he started to glow bright at the thought of the little kittens he once saw in a book that Katherine had read to him.

Smiling at the girl, Nightlight gestured for Katherine to list more things.

"Kittens! Hmm, Chocolate! Chocolates and baby mice!" She started to pace around the room trying to think of more happy things.

"Family and uh, friends! Yeah, friends! Favourite pillows!" The more she listed, the brighter Nightlight grew.

While Katherine paced the room and thought of more things that made her happy, Nightlight regained the ability to fly, and was now floating behind Katherine as she continued to mumbled words to herself. By now, the room was fairly lit up by Nightlight's glowing skin that it gave the boy enough energy to fly over to the metal door and try again at destroying it

Placing both hands over the small hole that he already made, Nightlight focused on destroying the door.

Light poured out of his hands, but nothing happened.

_Why isn't this working?_ Nightlight then slammed his shoulder hard into the door in frustration causing Katherine to gasp and freeze in place.

"Nightlight?" She asked in a cautious voice and slowly moved close to the boy.

Letting out an exhausted breath, Nightlight slumped against the door and sank to the floor.

"Nightlight…hey don't worry." Katherine started in a comforting tone that she would often use when around her Snow Goose, Kailash or the child of Santoff Claussen.

"We'll make it out of here." She smiled down to the spectral boy while offering him a hand.

Looking up to meet Katherine's gaze, a reassuring smile formed on his face, Nightlight took Katherine's hand and was pulled to his feet once again.

"Just keep thinking happy thoughts!" Katherine cheered then went back to pacing while Nightlight floated behind me.

"Now, back to getting out of here." She continued and instantly the spectral boy grew brighter, light now reaching all corners of the pure lead room.

"Santoff Claussen!" Katherine shouted remembering her home

"Big Root. The Spirit of the Forest. Petrov and Bear. And Mr. Qwerty." She was now skipping around the room, causing Nightlight to watch her and smile at her excitement.

"Tall William and William the Absolute Youngest!"

As Katherine's list of 'happy thoughts' moved from general to more personal things such as people, the more concentrated and pure the light was that Nightlight was emitting. While the girl started to list the children that both Katherine and Nightlight would play with, Nightlight flew over to the lead door and placed his hands over the small hole. Not too long after he reached the door, Katherine was soon standing behind him, but never stopped chanting names.

"Petter. Petter and Sascha, Fog too."

_C'mon, c'mon! Let this work!_ Nightlight shouted as he shut his eyes in concentration.

"Man in the Moon. Ombric. North and Bunnymund." Katherine exclaimed as she moved behind the spectral boy to watch his actions.

_This isn't working!_ Nightlight complained when the light was only melting not destroying the lead.

"Don't give up" Katherine encouraged sensing her friend's distress.

Concentrating on destroying the lead door, Nightlight didn't have any time to notice that Katherine had wrapped her arms around the boy's torso and hugged him in encouragement. Glowing brighter from the touch, Nightlight darkened the room by pulling all the light that had been radiating off his pale skin and was now forcing the light into the palms of hands to destroy the lead door.

When Nightlight finally opened his eyes, he had to squint from the sudden light.

_It's working!_ Nightlight cheered while the door was now completely covered in white light.

As the door glowed brighter, it started to make fainting cracking noises. Realizing that the door was crumbling right in front of the two, Nightlight quickly whipped around to face the girl and in one swift motion, he picked Katherine up in his arms flew to the farthest corner to protect the two from the exploding door. With Katherine now wedged into the corner, Nightlight knelt down and used himself as a shield from both flying lead and white light.

BANG!

With a sharp popping noise, both Nightlight and Katherine tensed up as the door exploded into millions of tiny pieces that was now scattered around the cell.

"Nightlight!" Katherine exclaimed once she could see over the boy's shoulder.

Letting his shoulders relax, Nightlight twisted around to stare at the opening where the solid lead door once stood.

"You did it! We're free!" Katherine cheered as she wrapped her arms around Nightlight and pulled him into another bone crushing hug.

Returning the hug, Nightlight spoke in his otherworldly voice.

"You told me to think of things that made me happy," He started letting his voice lower to no louder than a whisper as he pulled away to face Katherine.

"So I kept on thinking of you."

Not giving any time for Katherine to respond, Nightlight let his eyes slide shut and he leaned down to kiss her. Placing his lips onto hers, Katherine's brown eyes opened wide in shock, but not too long after, she let then slide shut. Katherine was a little surprised by Nightlight kissing her, but that changed when she relaxed her mouth, encouraging the spectral boy to deepen their kiss. As Nightlight continued to kiss her, Katherine moved her hands from his shoulders to the boy's neck and lightly pulled him closer. Feeling Nightlight's arms wrap around her waist, she smiled at how much she missed her friend and how much she loved being around him.

Their moment in the now bright lead cage would have lasted longer if it wasn't for a certain glow-worm who decided that now was a good time to remind the two of their current situation.

"I apologize for the interruption," He started in his humanlike voice

"But we really should be helping North and the others."

"M-Mr. Qwerty!"

Catching both Katherine and Nightlight off guard, the girl flushed bright red and stammered away from the spectral boy only to smack her head on the wall behind her. Noticing Katherine's pain, Nightlight leaned closer in both concern and curiosity at how much brighter Katherine flushed the closer he drew to her.

"I-It's not…I can explain…Nightlight stop!" Katherine exclaimed in a shaky voice while she tried to push back Nightlight.

"Y-Yes! We should help!" Katherine stated giving a Nightlight a serious stare.

Katherine's confident stare shifted to a flustered expression while Nightlight just gave her a loving gaze while a smirk molded onto his face. Shaking the feeling, Katherine pushed the spectral boy off with one last shove and was now reaching into her coat when the boy finally stood up behind her. With a little box now in her hand, Katherine turned to Nightlight and handed him the box.

"Open it! Hurry!" Katherine instructed then turned to Mr. Qwerty.

Listening to the girls words, Nightlight hesitantly opened the box's lid only to have his Moonbeam to burst out of the box and fly around his head before stopping in front of his head with a large grin.

_I told you I would be okay._ Nightlight snickered as he held the Moonbeam in his hands.

Dumping the rest of the box's contents into his hand, Nightlight's smile faded when we recognized the shattered pieces of his diamond dagger. Sucking in a deep breath, Nightlight then reached into his jacket and pulled out the tears of children that were kidnapped with him. With both shattered dagger and tears in hand, he once again focused light into his hands and within seconds, his Moonbeam Dagger was fixed and placed back into its staff.

With the Moonbeam back inside the dagger of the staff, Nightlight turned back to Katherine who was holding the still chrysalis wrapped Mr. Qwerty in her hands while trying to explain the situation to him.

"Please don't tell North, he'll go nuts if he foun-." Seeing Nightlight out of the corner of her eye, Katherine quickly switched topics.

"Yes, we found the Pooka. He's outside helping North right now."

"We must be of some assistance for them, right?" Mr. Qwerty asked in his odd voice.

"We are! I've got this" Katherine stated as she pulled out the silver locket and showed it to both Nightlight and Mr. Qwerty

Nightlight then raised a brow in question at the small locket.

"How will this help the others?" The glow-worm questioned knowing that Nightlight was thinking the same thing.

"I just know it will." The girl stated in a confident tone hoping to encourage them to fight.

BANG!

With another sharp noise coming from down the hall, all three made brief eye contact and knew what needed to be done.

"Take it and go!" Katherine instructed as she shoved the silver locket into Nightlight's hand.

But the spectral boy didn't move.

"Nightlight! You need to go now or else everyone will be in danger!"

_Why aren't you leaving!_ Katherine question when the boy didn't move after the second time she told him too.

"Nightlight! Everyone is going to be in danger if you don-."

Katherine was cut off when Nightlight gently grasped her cheeks and pulled her into another light kiss. As fast as the boy pulled her in, he was gone, leaving Katherine once again wide-eyed in shock by the spectral boy's actions. Stammering back and blinking away the daze that Nightlight put her into, she could now see Nightlight flying down the hallway and into battle.

"Katherine? Katherine, help us!" Just then, Tall William's voice shouted out from one of the cages that hung from the ceiling in the hallway.

Running down the hallway to where the small voices where coming from, Katherine grabbed a large rock and started to smash the lock on the children's cages and after about a minutes of smacking the rock against the lock, it broke off. Opening the door to the cage, several heads popped out from the darkness and smiled brightly at Katherine.

"I knew you'd come save us!" Fog exclaimed as he hopped out and landed on the ground.

"I'm so glad to see that everyone's alright." Katherine cheered as she helped more children from their cages.

"But how did you get out of your cage?" Sascha questioned when she noticed the gapping whole at where the metal door used to stand.

Blushing lighting, Katherine turned back to the children and remember the lesson that Ombric taught all the children and they practically lived by.

"Happy thoughts and believing." Katherine smiled trying to ignore the slight tint on her cheeks.

"But if you asked Nightlight, he'll tell you different." Mr. Qwerty chimed in a cheeky tone causing Katherine's face to erupt bright red.

-  
AN/ When I was reading the second book from the Guardian of Childhood series, it occurred to me that William Joyce never did explain how Nightlight and Katherine broke out of their cage…So I figured I would have my try and explaining how everything happened. Oh and if you didn't notice, the list of happy thoughts are from the third book when Katherine fell off the top of the Lunar Lamadary and Nightlight saved her.


End file.
